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February 11, 2026
Effective February 22, 2026, New York City’s Earned Safe and Sick Time Act (ESSTA) will undergo significant amendments. Here are the key changes:
Unpaid Safe and Sick Leave: In addition to the 40 or 56 hours of paid safe or sick time required under the current law, employers will be required to provide 32 hours of unpaid safe and sick leave annually. The leave must be available immediately upon hire and on the first day of each calendar year.
Prenatal Leave: The amendments codify a pre-existing requirement for employers to provide eligible employees with 20 hours of paid prenatal leave within a 52-week period. Such leave must be provided in addition to, and administered separately from, other paid time off.
Expanded Coverage for Safe and Sick Leave: Safe time now includes childcare for an employee’s minor children (or other minor children for whom an employee provides ongoing care); actions related to subsistence benefits for the employee, family member, or care recipient[1]; and situations where an employee or the employee’s family member has been a victim of workplace violence.[2]
Sick time now includes circumstances arising from public disasters, such as fires, explosions, terrorist attacks, severe weather conditions, or other catastrophic events. Employees also may now use leave to care for a child whose school or care provider has restricted in-person operations or closed due to a public disaster or health emergency.
Documentation, Carryover, and Incremental Use: Employers must track the use and availability of unpaid safe/sick leave and provide such information on pay stubs, or other written documentation, each pay period.
Employers are not required to carry over unused unpaid leave hours to the following year. Additionally, they may set reasonable daily minimum increments for the use of unpaid leave, up to four hours per day.
Temporary Schedule Change Act (TSCA) Adjustments: The amendments reduce employer obligations under the TSCA, scaling back requirements for temporary schedule changes. Previously, employers were required to approve up to two temporary schedule changes per year for personal events. The amended law will require only that, when an employee requests a schedule change, the employer responds to the request as soon as practicable; the employer is not required to grant the requested schedule change. The employee is, however, protected from retaliation for having made the request.
New York City Employers: Take time now – before the law’s February 22, 2026, effective date – to update your policies and practices to implement the amendments and train your supervisors and Human Resources professionals on them.
The author of this article, Patricia Tsipras, is a member of the Bar of Pennsylvania. This article is designed to provide one perspective regarding recent legal developments, and is not intended to serve as legal advice in Pennsylvania, New York, or any other jurisdiction, nor does it establish an attorney-client relationship with any reader of the article where one does not exist. Always consult an attorney with specific legal issues.
[1] A “care recipient” is a person with a disability, including a temporary disability, who (i) is the caregiver’s family member or resides in the caregiver’s household and (ii) relies on the caregiver for medical care or to meet the needs of daily living.
[2] “Workplace violence” means any act or threat of violence against an employee that occurs in a place of employment.
